Drying apparatus



Jan. 14, 1941.

DRYING APPARATUS W. G. ROSENDAH L Filed April 22, 1939 FIG-3 FIG-2 FIG. I

INVENTOR WARREN G. ROSENDAHL Patented Jan. 14, 1941 UNITED STATES DRYING APPARATUS Warren G. Rosendahl, Cincinnati, Ohio. assignor to The American Laundry Machinery Company, Norwood, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 22, 1939, Serial No. 269,458

4 Claims.

This invention relates to driers such as are used for underwear or like articles of wearing apparel or, indeed, any fabric or other articles of suitable shape and requiring a drying operation.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved drier which is of simple form but highly eficient in operation, particularly in its ability to distribute heated air to various parts of the garment in accordance with the ease or difilculty with which each part may be dried.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved drier of this kind in which the drying eifect is accomplished not by contact of a heated member with the work, but by the circulation of heated air through the fabric itself, with proper distribution of the air to all parts of the garment, the drier itself forming merely a guide or carrier to initially hold the garment in open form ready for the air drying operation.

a drier of hollow perforate form, serving as a guide or shell on which to mount the garment to be dried, and provided with means for distributing the heated air to various parts of the shell guide, and thence to the work, so as to obtain the most efi'icient drying effects.

A further object is to provide a drier of hollow perforate form including baiiles specially arranged for proper distribution of the air to var- 30 ious parts of the garment tobe dried.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

'In the drawing, which represents one suitable I35 embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly broken out and in section to expose interior parts;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, looking from the left in .Fig. 1, and also broken out and in section to expose interior parts; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional, plan view on the line 3-3, Fig. l.

The drier shown in the drawing comprises a hollow shell I made of sheet metal and throughout substantially its entire area being provided with holes 2 uniformly distributed for passage of air from the inside of the shell to its outside, for drying purposes, as will later appear. The shell is in no sense a form on which the garment is dressed to be dried by contact with the metal of the form itself. On the contrary it is intended to serve merely as a guide or support for initially holding the work to enable the heated air to be introduced to its interior and then passed through the textile fabric. As a consequence the guide A further object of the invention is to provide I is of a shape and size commensurate with the smallest size of article to be dried,-for example, the smallest size of underwear or other article of wearing apparel. Ofcourse, the exact shape of the shell will be determined to some extent by the use to which it is intended to be put, such as a particular shape or style of garment. In the drawings the shell is shown as substantially rectangular in form in front elevation, as in Fig. 1, shaped something like a pillow, with the upper 0 corners rounded as at 3. The front and rear faces la, lb, converge toward each other along both the top edge, as at 4, and the side edges as at 5, so that in plan view'the shell as a whole is substantially of oval or shuttle form in cross section, as 1 shown in Fig. 3. At its bottom (at one end of the pillow) theshell is open, as at 6, to provide communication to a heating chamber 1 in which is located suitable heating means, such as the finned steam pipes or coils 8 communicating by pipes 9 9 with a source of steam. Air is supplied to the heating chamber 1 from the outlet of a fan or blower l0 having an inlet H and driven in any suitable manner such as by an electric motor l2 shown as mounted coaxially with the impeller i3 of the blower.

Motor 12, blower l0, and the heater, including its casing M and the heating coils, are suitably supported, such as by being mounted in a frame having legs l5 and supporting a table 16 on which the shell I is mounted. The upper surface of the table forms a work support and its back may be provided with an apron l1, if desired.

To properly distribute the air supplied to the interior chamber N5 of the shell, it is provided-internally with baflling or air distributing means, shown as a series of metal plates suitably mounted and arranged relatively to each other. Their arrangement is such as-to distribute the air to the uniformly spaced perforations 2 of the shell with some definite relation with respect to the ease or difficulty with which various parts of the garment or work to .be dried may be dried. For example, considering an undergarment, the shoulder straps and neck portions thereof are usually made of several plies or bound so as to be thicker and contain more material than the body of the garment itself. Thus that portion ,of the garment which is dried with the most difficulty is its upper portion.

In the bafiiing arrangement shown, I provide two inner plates 20, 26a, lying generally parallel to each other and spaced equidistantly from the central plane. Said plates converge slightly upwardly from their lower edges located at about the level of the table Hi, to a point marked 2|,

where each of said plates has its upper end turned outwardly or bent at right angles to form lateral bailles 22 extending outwardly into close contact with the inner surfaces of the shell walls la, lb. Indeed, as to all bafile plates utilized in this device, except as hereinafter noted, the edges thereof extend outwardly into close contact with the shell walls.

Between the plates 20, 20a, and extending from apoint 23 upwardly nearly to the edge 4 at the top of the shell, is a single central plate 24 fixed to which, near the top and on each side, are lateral plates 25, similar in shape and for the same purpose as the plates 22 before referred to. Looking at the shell in front elevation, as shown in Fig. 1, the upper right and left corners of the plate 24 are cut off, as at 26, and to further assist in the desired direction of air currents at the corners of the shell. It is provided internally with 'imperforate corner baflle plates 21, which fit closely along all edges to the walls of the shell and are fixed thereto. These corner baffle plates blank off, as it were, the perforations in the upper corners of the shell, directing the heated air in more useful channels.

Spaced equally distant from each of the plates 2!], 213a, and outside thereof, are additional plates 28, 28a. These extend upwardly and parallel to the plates 20, 20a from about table level to the point 23 where they are bent laterally to form outwardly extending baffles 39 similar in purpose and arrangement to the plates 22.

Outwardly beyond the plates 28, 28a and equally spaced therefrom, are still other plates 29,

9a, which extend from about table level to the point 30 where they are bent outwardly as at 3|. All of the several plates 20, 20a, 24, 28, 28a, 29 and 28a are tied together at suitable intervals by bolts 32, being held apart on said bolt by "pacers 33, so that all plates together form a unitary structure which is suitably secured rigidly in the shell, such as by bracket plates 34 secured thereto, as by bolts 35. In operation a garment or any other article to be dried is dressed over the shell or in other words is sleeved over it like a glove on the hand. To prevent the work from being blown off of the form by the inflation or ballooning efiect of the air, suitable means is provided for holding the garment in place, such as spring clamps, shown as straps of metal 36,

fastened at 31 to the shell near its lower end and provided at their upper ends with loop portions 38 forming finger holes by which they may be pulled out to introduce the skirt of the garment between the clamp and shell.

With a garment applied to the shellthe motor l2 isstarted and air is delivered by the fan or blower to the heating chamber 1 from whence it passes through the opening 6 into the chamber [8 within the shell. Here the several baflle plates divide the air stream so that definite portions thereof are supplied and carried to different zones or areas of the shell surface. For example, in the arrangement shown the shell surface is essentially divided into four zones marked respectively A, B, C and D. Zones or sections A are supplied with air through a central channel open between plates 20, 20a near its bottom and near its upper portion divided by plate 24 into two channels supplying respectively the two zones A. Plates 25 at theirends do not contact the walls of the shell, so that the heated air passes around the ends of said plates and into the extreme upper tapered portion of the shell. The central channel, between plates 20, 20a is the largest of all and its converging walls produce a nozzle effect which besides compensating for possible loss of air velocity due to the greater length of the channel, produces a balance in favor of greater air delivery to the zone A than to other zones, thus taking care of the thicker or heavier parts of the garment.

Zones B are supplied with air through channels between plates 20, 20a. and 28, 2811.. Although these zones B are closer to the source of air supply, the two channels combined are of smaller area than the area of the central channel. Also, the walls are actually parallel instead of converging. The net result is air delivery to the walls of zone B in an amount less than that delivered to the walls of zone A. Zones C are supplied with air through channels formed by the walls 28, 28a and 29, 29a. These zones are still closer to the source of air supply, but the channels are still smaller in cross section and the walls slightly diverge upwardly. The net result is air delivery to zones C a little less in quantity from that supplied to zones B. Delivery tapers off through the lower portion of zones C to substantially match the delivery in zones D below.

Zones D receive air through channels between the plates 29, 29a. and the shell walls la, lb. However, the supporting collar 40 on which the shell is mounted reduces the orifices at the inlet to these shafts, which together with their smaller cross section reduce air delivery to the zones D below that of the zones above.

It will of course be understood that the total area of the air inlet at 6 to the hollow shell is less than the total area of all perforations 2 in the shell walls. As a consequence the .air flow through the perforations is free and unimpeded. Also, the baflles prevent concentration of air flow in one zone at the expense of another, but all zones receive and eject the proper quantities of holds it away from the shell walls, so that the heated air flows through and to and has contact with all portions of the garment itself. While the drawing illustrates a preferred arrangement of baffles the invention is not limited to the arrangement shown. Any desired arrangement which distributes the air in accordance with the desired drying effect on different portions of the garment is suitable.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

l. A drier of the character described, comprising a hollow shell of general pillow form upon which a hollow fabric article to be dried may be dressed, said shell having one end open to provide an air inlet and having its opposite walls perforated, the total area of the perforations exceeding that of the air inlet, means for supplying drying air to said inlet, and sheet form guides mounted within the shell and extending from the inlet to the walls thereof and forming channels for distributing and directing streams of drying air to various zones of the perforated shell walls for ejection through said walls and the article being dried, said guides being so arranged with relation to each other and to said walls as to supply air to the perforations of those zones which are more remote from the air inlet in greater proportion than to those which are less remote.

2. A'drier of the character described, comprising a hollow shell of general pillow form upon which a hollow fabric article to be dried may be dressed, said shell having one end open to provide an air inlet and having its opposite walls perforated, the total area of the perforations exceeding that of the air inlet, means for supplying drying air to said inlet, and a series of imperforate plate members mounted within said shell and lying generally parallel to each other and to its walls, said plate members extending from the inlet to said walls and forming channels for distributing and directing streams of drying air to the various zones of the shell walls for ejection through said walls and the article being dried, some of said plate members converging toward each other in a direction away from the air inlet to gradually restrict the air channels formed between them.

3. A drier of the character described, comprising a hollow shell of general pillow form upon which a hollow fabric article to be dried may be dressed, said shell having one end open to provide an air inlet and having its opposite walls perforated, the total area of the perforations exceeding that of the air inlet, means for supplying drying air to said inlet, and a series of imperforate plate members mounted within said shell and lying generally parallel to each other and to its walls, said plate members extending from the inlet to said walls and forming channels for distributing and directing streams of drying air to the various zones of the shell walls for ejection through said walls and the article being dried, some of said plate members converging toward each other and others diverging away from each other in a direction away from the air inlet to gradually vary the size of the air channels formed between them.

4. A drier of the character described in claim 3, including clamping means mounted upon the outside of said shell for detachably securing thereon the article to be dried.

WARREN G. ROSENDAHL. 

